Justin B. Terry-Smith has been involved in Gay and HIV Activism since 1999. He is an Air Force 9/11 Disabled Vet. Raised in Silver Spring, MD, he now lives in Severn, MD with his husband Phil. He writes an HIV/STI Advice Column for A&U Magazine, is a Contributing writer for thebody.com, a Life Coach and an Adjunct Professor. He has earned his Doctorate in Public Health with a concentration in Infectious Disease.

Justin's HIV Journal

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Today's young people are the first generation
that has never known a world without HIV and AIDS. In Ethiopia, where more than
half of the population is under the age of 24, cultural attitudes among the
older generation towards sexual health issues are making it difficult for young
people to arm themselves with the knowledge they need to keep themselves safe.

But one enterprising group of youngsters in Addis
Ababa, the BEZA Anti-AIDS youth group, are determined to use their combined
talents for music and dance to get messages about HIV prevention across to the
public and their peers. Members of the youth group, all aged between 15 and 20,
have founded a dance troupe called Addis Beza, meaning “to live for others”.
The troupe perform regularly in popular public spots around Addis Ababa, using
the occasion to hand out information leaflets and to encourage people to get
tested for HIV free of charge so that they know their status and can be treated
accordingly.

The mobile testing clinics are organised by the
Organization for Social Services for AIDS (OSSA), Ethiopia’s largest NGO
working on HIV, and attract up to a thousand people over the course of five
days. If somebody is found to be HIV positive, they are then referred on to a
local health facility for access to treatment, care and support.

At the youth club centre, as well as training
long hours to learn dance moves, members take it in turns to offer a drop in
counselling service for young people and to give out free condoms.
Habtegoregies Hailu, better known as Habte, is the club’s chairman, and is
determined to help them navigate through their teenage years.

The troupe
practising their dance moves

Photo credit: duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

“We’re going to save ourselves first, and then
become a shelter for others who need protection,” he says. “This is the start
not the end for us, helping protect young people from HIV.”

The Youth Group’s
Debates

The club’s regular debate session is always well
attended by members and this month’s topic - what is the right age to start
having sex – drew quite a crowd. At these debates, opinion is often fiercely
divided, but everybody gets the chance to express their view.

Club chairman Habte’s offering sees him open up
the floor to personal opinion and thought. “How much control we do we have over
ourselves, over our bodies? Marriage is not necessarily a timetable for having
sex. It’s ok to experience, but we must be careful. It’s ok to jump in and
enjoy life but do we take responsibility for our actions? Enjoy life but go and
get information on how to enjoy it responsibly and carefully.”

Charismatic troupe leader Samson, 17, had this to
say: “We have to have sex, we strongly have to. Because the Bible says to be
reproductive – so we have to fulfil God’s word and use our body.What is it for otherwise?”

Wendimagegne is more hesitant: “I’m waiting until
marriage, because otherwise we won’t be able to handle the consequences. We’re
not knowledgeable enough at 16.”

Samson and his
story

Samson is typical of the kind of young person
that the club aims to attract. Now a model student taking an evening class in
hotel management, he was once branded a troublemaker and had a history of petty
stealing. Brought up by his grandmother, his father died when he was a baby and
he has no real knowledge of his mother. Remembering when he was younger, he
says: “We got into fights with gangs from other villages and had problems with
the police.”

Samson standing
in front of a mobile HIV-testing clinic

Photo credit: duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

“I feel I have benefitted greatly from joining
Addis Beza,” he continues. “The main benefit is a change in my life. Although I
joined for the dance troupe, I’ve learnt lots of things. I did not have
self-awareness until now and it has helped me to teach other people what I have
learned. There is a big difference between the old me and the new me.”

Samson has seen first hand the tragedy that HIV
can hold for young people if they do not have the knowledge they need to
understand how to manage the virus. His friend Abel took his own life on
discovering that he was positive, too frightened to reveal his diagnosis to his
family for fear of being rejected.

“If you catch HIV it means that everyone will
discriminate against you,” Samson says.“People will think that you can’t live with anyone, that it is an alien
disease. [Before joining the youth group] the opinion I had is that it’s not even
possible to eat together.Our families
used to say that it's a punishment from God.”

“I did not have any knowledge and didn't know its
methods of transmission, but I have learned to practise safe sex, when I should
start having sex, what I need to do after sex if a woman gets pregnant.”

With young people aged 15-24 accounting for 40%
of new HIV infections globally, Samson and his fellow dancers are playing their
part as duty bearing citizens. “I want to make Ethiopian culture known to the
world,” he says proudly.“Here we say
that we want to be the light for others.”

The troupe
performing in the piazza

Photo credit: duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

The International
HIV/AIDS Alliance and Link Up

Ethiopia is one of five countries currently being
targeted by the Alliance and its partners through Link Up, an initiative that
aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of more than one
million young people living with and affected by HIV.

Over the course of the next three years, Link Up
will reach more than one million young people aged 15-24 by implementing
tailored HIV and sexual and reproductive health interventions to increase
uptake and access to services and reduce unintended pregnancies, new HIV
infections and HIV-related maternal mortality. In Ethiopia the initiative aims
to reach 140,000 young people to improve their sexual health.

What can you do
to help?

Show your support to Addis Beza, the Link Up
programme and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance by:

1.Sharing the dance troupe’s story (Click to Tweet)
(Share on Facebook) #LinkUp

2.Keeping up to date with the work being carried
out through Link Up at www.link-up.org

3.Follow the International HIV/AIDS Alliance on
Twitter @theaidsalliance and on Facebook

Thank you for taking the time to
read about Addis BEZA today. It means a lot to everyone involved in this
project.

Momina is a 22 year old single mother of two who lives in the
city of Adama in central Ethiopia and was diagnosed as living with HIV three
years ago. Although she wears a smile, sadness is etched across her face when
she talks about her younger son, Yerosa. Born HIV positive, he is now three but
Momina knows very little of his life save for the occasional photos she is sent
by the American family who adopted him. Momina took the agonising decision to
give him up for adoption in the hope that he would be able to receive medical
treatment.

In telling her story today, Momina hopes that she might help
other young women just like her, to know how they can protect themselves from
contracting HIV and get the care and support they need through projects like Link Up being led
by the International
HIV/AIDS Alliance.

Momina’s Story

When Momima was a teenager, she left her family home as she
was afraid that her parents would marry her off to an older man as they did
with her older sister - who later died of AIDS. After falling pregnant with her
first child Rapira, and without the support of her parents, she was forced to
move from community to community, taking temporary jobs where she could, to try
to provide food and shelter for her son.

“There are times when I feed
my child and I do not eat at all. I sometimes come home late from work, there
are times when I wake him up and feed him because I don’t want him to sleep on
an empty belly.”

Without life being tough enough already, three years ago
Momina was diagnosed as living with HIV. At that time she had no idea that she
was pregnant and subsequently she was not able to receive the treatment needed
to protect her unborn child from onward transmission of the virus. When her
youngest son, Yerosa was just four months old, Momina learned that he was HIV
positive and took the agonising decision to give him up to a family in the US
with the hope that he would receive the medical care he needed.

“I convinced myself that
it’s better to see my child well. If he had not been seriously ill, I would
have not given him away. I would have fought until the end. I am praying for
him to be well wherever he is.”

Living with HIV

Determined not to be defined by her HIV status, even when her
own mother will not allow her into her family home for fear that she might
infect her siblings, Momina remains candid about her condition with friends and
colleagues. But in a country where HIV stigma and discrimination still prevail,
her openness sometimes costs her and she is presently between jobs.

“I do not let myself down
because I live with HIV and have my own objectives.”

“I want to continue my
education and qualify as a nurse. I have always had a passion and love for the
profession and I want to serve people like me, people living with the virus. I
would be happy if I could do that. My biggest aim is to get educated, get a job
and live my own life but at the same time I don’t want to cry over split milk”

Momina is assisted with access to HIV treatment and care by
Ethiopia’s largest NGO working on HIV, the Organization for Social Services for
AIDS (OSSA), who in turn is supported by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.
Every fortnight she attends a support group meeting organised by OSSA where she
and other members of her community living with HIV meet to share their
experiences.

OSSA have also helped contribute to her son Rapira’s annual
school fee. Momina is determined to see that he gets a good education.

“I wish for him something
much greater than I had,” she says with feeling.

“I hope he can go all the way
and graduate which I was unable to do.”

In another world, life for Momina and her family could have
turned out so very differently. If she had known how to protect herself against
HIV. If she had gone through proper antenatal care when she was pregnant with
Yerosa. If she had not felt compelled to run away from home for fear of early
marriage. If she was able to work freely without worrying about becoming a
target for discrimination.

“I would like people to see
me a strong person,” she smiles. “I know that there is strength in me; I got
that strength from the life I have had. I want young people of my age to be
strong and to have the strength to face and overcome challenges.”

The International HIV/AIDS
Alliance and Link Up

Ethiopia is one of five countries currently being targeted by
the Alliance and its partners through Link Up, an initiative that aims to
improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of more than one million young
people living with and affected by HIV.

Over the course of the next three years, Link Up will reach
more than one million young people aged 15-24 by implementing tailored HIV and
sexual and reproductive health interventions to increase uptake and access to
services and reduce unintended pregnancies, new HIV infections and HIV-related
maternal mortality. In Ethiopia the initiative aims to reach 140,000 young
people to improve their sexual health.

What can you do to help?

Show your support to Momina, Link Up and the International
HIV/AIDS Alliance by:

1.Sharing
Momina’s story (Click to Tweet) (Share on Facebook) #LinkUp

2.Keeping up
to date with the work being carried out through Link Up at www.link-up.org

3.Follow the International HIV/AIDS Alliance on Twitter
@theaidsalliance and on Facebook

Thank you for taking the time to
read Momina’s story today. It means a lot to everyone involved in this project.

I decided to do a little PSA for World AIDS Day 2013. I don't know how I
got the idea to even try to pull this off but I tried. The only thing I
wish people would take from this is to know your HIV status. It's very
hard to want to know your status but the sooner you do the better.
Whether it is HIV positive or negative it will be alright. At least now
you can take the precautions or continue to take the precautions that
you need to protect yourself and others from the HIV virus.

I've
had many friends pass away and today I really remember then and take a
moment to sit by myself and ask why did they have to leave this earth so
young? I know it's not my fault and I don't feel survivor's guilt at
all, but I feel for the world. The world will not know the wonders that
many of my friends that have passed away from HIV/AIDS complications
could give to it and to their own communities.

Today a lot of
people would think that I am out going to a World AIDS Day event, but
today I stayed home with my husband and my son. I looked at him today
thinking, "man oh man I hope that he is listening to my message and
better yet learning from it. I hope that he knows how much I love him
and understand why I do, what I do. It is because of him and his
friends that I hope for the future and I will do my best, even if it
takes my last breath

Today I reminisced to when I started out as an AIDS
activist.This was my first news
interview and I couldn’t believe I found it after all these years.I was actually looking back on some old photos
of friends and x-boyfriends that passed away.I found this news interview and it was when I was about 29, which was about
5 years ago.Now I look at my life now
and I didn’t think I would be married legally and I didn’t think I would be a
father.I didn’t think that I would’ve
come out with a children’s book about HIV or have done HIV activism as deeply
as I have now.

Sometimes I think about my death and I wonder if my son will
know about the work I’ve done.I wonder
if he knows about how serious HIV/AIDS really is.I know several generations before me probably
said the same things about me when I was “growing up gay”.Some of them are still around probably
shaking their heads at some in my generations that shrug their shoulders at
HIV/AIDS.We will never know until time
tells us the truth and only truth can come with time.

) -- Tune in for a special World AIDS Day EVENT. "The HEALTH Show: WORLD AIDS DAY 2013 - Living with HIV".

A panel is HIV/AIDS activists and advocates gathered to discuss living with HIV.

The panel includes:
-- Marvell Terry (HIV/AIDS Activist, The Executive Director of The Red
Door Foundation in Memphis, TN and an Organizing Committee member for
The Young Black Gay Leadership Initiative) -- Justin B. Terry Smith (HIV Advice Columnist, Author and Activist)
-- Patrick Ingram (HIV/AIDS Activist, Committee Member of The National
Minority AIDS Council’s HIV Leadership Working Group for their Health
Literacy and Wellness Initiative, and member of The Youth Advisory
Committee for The National Minority AIDS Council’s Youth Initiative to
End HIV/AIDS in America)

Catch a special ENCORE of the broadcast Friday, December 6 @ 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT.

Justin B Terry-Smith

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About Justin B Terry-Smith

My name is Justin B Terry-Smith, I'm a Black Gay man living in Laurel, Maryland and I am HIV+. I've decided to share my story because I feel it's important that people who have unprotected sex know what they might be getting themselves into. People have asked me why I am doing this, why have I put my personal business out like this. I tell them it is to help educate people, to make them aware and to make them think twice about having unprotected sex. This is my personal journey that needs to be told to help the community.
HIV is neither glamorous or a rite of passage. Watch the Journal and think twice.
In the words of Pedro Zamora, "I'm not dying. I'm living with it"